After a strong start to the 2023 season, Florida has seen some of their worst defensive performances in recent weeks, allowing 30+ points in two of their last three games. The Florida Gators used the bye week to work on several key areas defensively.
“Takeaways is an area where we need to do better. I think ultimately we’d like to take the ball away a little bit more,” Billy Napier said on what they focused on during the bye week. “Tackling at times has been an issue on our team. I think just overall gap integrity relative to fundamentals. Line of scrimmage, edges. Those are some of the areas we’ve worked hard for three practices last week.”
Gator Country highlights four areas the Gators can improve on defensively with five games left in the 2023 regular season.
CREATE MORE TAKEAWAYS
Florida has really struggled to create turnovers in 2023, generating just four takeaways through seven games including two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. The Gators’ four turnovers gained ranks T-126th in the FBS. The Gators have a sign inside their new football facility that states you win 75% of games when you win the turnover battle. That statistic has remained true this season as Florida lost the turnover battle in both of their losses in 2023 (Utah, Kentucky). The only game Florida won while losing the turnover battle was against Charlotte in week four, where the Gators looked extremely flat but were able to overcome an inferior opponent.
Creating more turnovers is not only going to help this Gators’ defense, which has allowed 30+ points in two of their last three games, but it’s going to help the Gators’ offense put more points on the board. Florida ranks 13th in the SEC in average starting field position, trailing only South Carolina. This is largely due to a lack of turnovers and special teams presence. Creating more turnovers will improve the numbers on both sides of the ball.
IMPROVE TACKLING
The Gators started off the 2023 season on a strong note in the tackling department, recording just nine missed tackles through their first two weeks. In the last five weeks, Florida has 54 missed tackles, including an average of 12 missed tackles in their last three games with a season high 17 against Kentucky.
Looking at the season total, Florida ranks 3rd in the SEC in missed tackles per game, trailing only Georgia and Alabama. However, this is a statistic that could drop significantly if Florida continues their recent trend. The Gators are being held up by two strong tackling games to open the season against two struggling offenses in Utah and McNeese. There has been a slight improvement in tackling numbers in year two under Napier, but with a tough schedule ahead of them, the Gators will need to improve if they want to keep it that way.
GAP INTEGRITY
Gap integrity is something Billy Napier and the Gators’ staff have preached since arriving on campus. It essentially asks for each defensive player to fill their assigned gap in a timely manner. One player being out of position can kill a defensive play, which we have seen plenty of over the years. While there isn’t statistical evidence or analytics that can show this as an area of weakness, it’s come up time and time again on film. Linebackers are late or even failing to reach their assigned gap, leading to long runs by opposing offenses. Gap integrity is also more than just filling a gap, it means being a force player and shedding a block to make a play. Whether it’s a coaching issue, not playing with proper fundamentals, a lack of communication, or all of the above, the Gators need to improve their gap integrity while playing with intent and physicality.
MORE PRESSURE FROM ALL POSITIONS
Edge rusher Princely Umanmielen is having a historic season in terms of creating pressure and winning at the line of scrimmage, generating 31 total pressures through seven games while holding a win rate of 53.5% on true pass sets, which leads the P5. For context, a 53.5%-win rate is a better percentage than Myles Garrett, Jared Verse, Chase Young, Aidan Hutchinson, and Nick Bosa put up in college. Umanmielen’s off the chart analytics have only resulted in three sacks through seven games, a disappointing figure for one of the better pass rushers in college football. The Gators’ defensive line isn’t providing much help for Umanmielen as DT Caleb Banks holds the 2nd highest win rate at 27.8%. Florida’s other starting edge rusher, Tyreak Sapp, is winning just 13% of his true past sets.
Perhaps the most important piece of information I found while digging through the numbers compared to the previous college stars I mentioned is that Florida does not get an effective pass rush from their linebackers. I went back and looked at FSU from 2022 (Jared Verse), Ohio State from 2019 (Chase Young), Texas A&M 2016 (Myles Garrett), among others, and what I found was that these teams had much better pressure grades and win rates from the linebacker position. Florida’s highest graded linebacker in terms of pressure is Mannie Nunnery, who holds a pressure grade of 63.2 across 19 pressure snaps. Every other linebacker on the Gators sits below the 60.0 mark in this area. Shemar James holds the highest win rate in the LB room, holding a 12.5 win rate. Scooby Williams holds the 2nd highest win rate at 5.9%. Every other LB is at 0.0%.
Florida needs to find more pressure from all positions on the defense. Too many times this season we’ve seen the Gators bring a bunch of defenders but can’t quite get to the opposing QB. Linebackers creating pressure with intent rather than just filling their gaps is key, as it will keep the QB in the pocket more often, allowing for talented edge rushers like Princely Umanmielen to generate more sacks.